The authors investigated the expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) as well as the expression of miR-146a, a miRNA known to regulate COX-2 levels, in primary lung fibroblasts derived from non-smokers and smokers with and without COPD. Basal expression of COX-2 protein was higher in COPD lung fibroblasts compared to normal or smoker fibroblasts but there was no difference in Cox–2 mRNA. [PLoS One]
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Investigators made mutations to the NS1 protein based on these sequence differences, and assessed the impact of these changes on host cell interferon responses. They found that viruses with mutations at position 171 replicated efficiently but did not induce expression of interferon genes as effectively as wild-type viruses in A459 lung epithelial cells. [Virus Res]
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The authors found that miR-138 specifically targeted AGO2, which affects the stability and maturation of miR-130b. Decreased expression of miR-130b promoted the expression of growth arrest and DNA damage inducible alpha (GADD45A) and resulted in the G2/M phase arrest and proliferation inhibition in human non-small-cell lung cancer cells. [Sci Rep]
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Researchers found that AKT1 is an important regulator of metastasis and down-regulation of its activity is associated with increased metastatic potential of A549 cells. Inhibition of AKT1 enhanced migration and invasion in KRAS- or EGFR-mutant non-small cell lung cancer cells. [Sci Rep]
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Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated announced that the U.S. FDA has approved KALYDECO® for use in more than 600 people with CF ages two and older who have one of five residual function mutations that result in a splicing defect in the CF transmembrane conductance regulator gene. [Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated]
Press Release

Genentech announced that the U.S. FDA has accepted the company’s supplemental New Drug Application and granted Priority Review for Alecensa® as an initial treatment for people with anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-positive, locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer as detected by an FDA-approved test. [Genentech, Inc.]
Press Release

Sarah W. Harcum of Clemson University is leading a team that has received $6 million for research that could help lower the cost of several drugs that run into the thousands of dollars per treatment and fight some of the world’s most debilitating ailments. [Clemson University]
Press Release

The European Medicines Agency has issued new, stricter rules for studies that test drugs in people for the first time. They aim to better protect participants in such first-in-human studies—often healthy volunteers who receive a financial reward. [ScienceInsider]
Editorial

After a nearly year-long investigation into anonymous allegations of data and image falsification in numerous papers, a University of Tokyo committee announced it had confirmed that one research group falsified images and graphs in five papers. The panel cleared five other research groups of wrongdoing. [ScienceInsider]
Editorial

In June 2016, investigators at the University of Georgia in Athens concluded that Azza El-Remessy, a faculty member who studied the impact of diabetes on the eye, had committed misconduct and recommended she be terminated. El-Remessy hired a lawyer to dispute the findings, but the following October she gave up her challenge after the university paid her $100,000—essentially to leave. [ScienceInsider]
Editorial